I thought it'd be fun to show the beginnings of an idea. I've had a 'hankerin' for trying a piece with saw dust or cardboard and wax to give my pieces a lighter base. This idea came to me during my morning 'quiet time.' It's funny, you can wait for days to hear inspiration and when it comes it comes like a flash. And if you're not ready to receive it, you'll miss it. But this morning I got it. It was the sketch in the image above to the top right. I was asking, "Why am I so hard headed and unwilling to give in to something outside of myself?" And at that moment was the flash of this image and the text Hard Soil Broken.

Now, I'm a Christian, and I never intend to force my beliefs on anyone. I believe that God is bigger than man's dogma and if you sincerely search for truth, He will reveal it to you. If God is afraid of us questioning Him, He is no God. That all being said, this is my story and it includes my beliefs, so bear with me.

I was floored to think I was getting an answer to my question in the form of an art piece. Why not just a word? Why not a story? It was like God was speaking to the core of who He made me to be. Now I don't believe this is some sacred piece. It's just the result of a conversation. You may have as equally significant a conversation spoken in an entirely different way. This is how my conversation was spoken. Anyway, this was about a week ago. Today I finally pulled the canvas off the shelf to get started.

My canvas roll.

It was very interesting grabbing that canvas tonight. It was surprising the feeling that I felt. It has been a few weeks since I started a new piece and it felt the way you feel meeting a great old friend after a long absence. Really cool. Ideas always evolve, and this will be no exception, so where we end up is anyone's guess. Either way, here I go. Off again to further discover who I am...

Here is the final image of my latest piece. The title was taken from a line in this poem I wrote:

III.

I sing in silence to my soul

Wind through leaves on trees and ground

Enamored heart now takes it's toll

Before you even make a sound

A taste so sweet I feel it's flavor

Touch so pure it's fragrance found

Unbound by mercy laced with favor

Echo in a distant sound

With lightning's flash and thunder's roll

The glory of a kingdom crowned

As freedom laughs at self control

A quiet whisper of a sound

This piece was a great emotional release as I felt "free" to simply create. I kept the John Coltrane Pandora station blasting and let the music influence my decisions on color and textures. I wanted it to feel like it was just pulled out of my mind so multiple layers of color were applied to keep the direction of my brush strokes as ambiguous as possible. For more information on this piece follow this link.